Mr. Anand occupies No. 2 position in the Corporate Planning Department of multi-product company having a tumover of more than Rs. 900 crores and operating in a high technology (hi-tech) industry. For the last five years, Anand has been associated with strategic planning of the company and recently he has been deputed to a task force to reorganise the company to cope up with the changing technology and environment. At the last meeting of the Board of Directors of the company, the members expressed their concern about the falling competitive position of the company in the industry. The main reason

cited bv the Cheif Executive was the outdated organisation structure which has not undergone any change for the 10 years,though the size, technology and environment of the company have changed tremendously. It was on the advice of Chief Executive that the Bord of Directors decided to set up a task force for the company's reorganisation..

At the first meeting of the task force, Anand, who is an expert in planning, convinced the other members to adopt the following procedure :

(i) Determine exactly what type of structure the company has at present.

(ii) Determine the type of environment the company faces now and the weaknesses of the present structure

(iii) Forecast the environmental changes in the future and the type of technology to be used by the company.

(iv) Design the organisation structure to meet the future challenges

It was discovered that the company is currently structured along classical lines and the company is operating in a highly dynamic environment. The environment in future is likely to be more uncertain because of fast changes in technology and requirements of customers and competition by MNCs. The task force came to the

conclusion that the structural design must be responsive to change and if this is not done, the company's survival in the market would be made more difficult.

Questions :

(a) How far do you agree with the procedure adopted by the task force ?

(b) Explain how the system and contingency approches can contribute to the analysis of this case.